When the Blindfold Slips
by quiet.recluse
Summary: Precognition is like a defective blindfold-unsteady, unexpected and unreliable. Nevertheless, some people have this defective blindfold. It is up to the person what to do with the information they get. YY/Atemu x OC, canon mostly.
1. Chapter 1

Konnichiwa! I know I'm meant to be typing up chapters for the Traces Through Time series, and redoing Siren's Honour, but this plot bunny has been bouncing around in my head for awhile. So I thought, ah, what the heck! Just type it and post it up.

In exchange though, I'll be deleting my Rurouni Kenshin fiction. No matter how much I liked the style of writing I used there, I've simply lost the essence of the characters I'm writing about. Though it saddens me, I refuse to type a completely OOC story. Sorry those who've read it and want it to continue.

This story begins a little before Season Zero, where you're introduced to my OC. (Yes, this story has yet another OC, if you don't like OCs, don't read this story.) This story is inspired by a manga I recently read, Land of the Blindfolded. It's cute and it's good, people who like school life and romance will like it!

Just to clarify several things with story:

I use minimal Japanese terms. In this chapter, I use 'sensei' to refer to a teacher, simply because I find it strange to use Mr. or Mrs. I've used those terms with parents and family members though. I've also used the Japanese names of the Yu-Gi-Oh characters, but I haven't actually watched all of the Jap episodes of YGO. Therefore, forgive me if the dialogue I write in this story varies between the Japanese and English version anime dialogue.

I'm absolutely hopeless at writing duels. I've never even played the game, period. So there will be no duel scenes, unless they are necessary. Probably Jonouchi's duel with Esper Roba will be left out, etc. Sorry for those folks who like duelling.

Disclaimer for all of this story (so I don't have to keep repeating it)-I don't own YGO, or Land of the Blindfolded! I own the OC in this story however. ^_^

That's it, I think! Better stop talking now.

**When the Blindfold Slips**

**Chp 1: Girl With a Defective Blindfold**

* * *

_What's the meaning of seeing? Seeing physically, or figuratively?_

_What if figuratively, the whole world couldn't see? That people somehow went about their daily lives with a 'blindfold' around their eyes, only being able to see the present, and only able to imagine the near future?_

_Sometimes though, some people have 'defective blin__dfolds'. They stumble; bump into someone else, and their blindfold slips, for just a moment._

_Suddenly the person sees more than others. They see one of the unsteady roads ahead of someone, and then the 'blindfold' slips back into place._

_Precognition is like a defective__ blindfold-unsteady, unexpected and unreliable. Nevertheless, some people have this 'defective blindfold'. It is up to the person what to do with the information they accidentally get._

* * *

"Well, as usual Shira dear-" The weekly attempt to get close, through nick name.

"Shiragiku, please, sensei." The same weekly rejection.

"Alright. As usual, Shiragiku, meet in my office next week. Maybe we'll make more progress next counselling session." The same hopeful words offered each week by Domino High's school counsellor.

"Maybe." The same cool reply given by the reluctant student in counselling.

Within a comfortably furnished office in Domino High School, the school counsellor and the counselled student sat across from one another, separated by a tidy desk. The counsellor, Ranau-sensei, was a tall, mildly pregnant middle-aged lady with tan skin, dark hair knotted into a professional bun, and kind green-hazel eyes that spoke of gentleness and understanding.

In contrast to the open kindness, the student, Tsukuba Shiragiku, owned a hidden, quiet and emotionless aura that showed even in physical appearance. Soft, expressionless grey eyes peeked out from behind a curtain of mildly wavy, mousy brown hair that reached her shoulders. Her build was small, slightly curved around the hips, and very slight female chest attributes that fashion-crazed girls would scorn for the busty-less-ness. All in all, she was the type of person a Domino High student would know as a vague acquaintance, and no more. No one special.

"So may I go now, Ranau-sensei?"

"Yes, you may. Here's your hall pass. Dismissed. Try and be more social Shiragiku. It isn't healthy to isolate yourself."

"…no sensei, maybe not."

Shiragiku reached out to take the hall pass. Briefly, their fingers brushed each other.

_**Ranau-sensei walked past, reaching the top of a stairwell**__** just outside her office. Smiling, she turned around slightly to wave to someone behind her, and as she did so, her foot slipped on the first stair. With a cry, she tumbled halfway down the stairwell, jolted, and fell the rest of the halfway straight to the floor. A loud 'thump!' sounded as she landed on her stomach-her pregnant stomach.**_

_**An ensuing 'crack' indicated she either broke a bone, or cracked her head or jaw against the floor.**_

_**Silence reigned for a few moments in the area as passer-by students froze, gaping. Then the screams and shouts began.**_

"_**Somebody get the nurse!"**_

_**A trickle of blood ran from Ranau-sensei's mouth down her chin.**_

Ranau-sensei looked down at her hand, startled by the sudden extra hand gripping it none too gently. "Shiragiku?"

The rounded, rather childish hand retracted hastily, and Ranau-sensei looked up into a pair of panicked grey eyes, completely unlike Shiragiku's normal expressionless exterior. The girl blinked, and suddenly her panic vanished, as if it had never been there. She was calm once more.

"Sorry. I just thought of something a bit startling. Goodbye, sensei." Shiragiku walked towards the office door, and suddenly stopped. She turned back around.

"Please be careful at the stairs closest to your office sensei. I think I spotted something slippery there before, maybe oil. Just a warning beforehand…"

"Thank you Shiragiku," Ranau-sensei said confusedly, and watched as the girl left abruptly.

One minute emotionless, the next minute as panicked as a high schooler before final exams, and then back to emotionless…no, she wasn't bipolar, the counsellor was sure of that. Whatever problem the student had, or whatever she had suffered to make her so anti-social today, was her job to find out.

Good thing she was patient. Shiragiku didn't look as if she would open up any painful events or problems anytime soon.

The school bell rang, indicating the end of a period. Ranau-sensei gathered the files on her desk and put them away before walking out of her office towards the staffroom. She toddled carefully towards the stairs closest to her office. The short way to the staffroom was using the stairs, while the long way involved a winding ramp she didn't have the patience to waddle down.

Carefully she checked the stairs for any slippery substance. Funny, she couldn't see any. All the same, she should still be careful…

"Hi Ranau-sensei!" a group of girls chorused behind her. Startled, Ranau-sensei hastily spun around to greet them with a smile-

-and her foot slipped.

For a frightening moment, the falling counsellor had an oncoming image of a stair edge rising up to meet her.

The next moment, someone had grabbed her wrist and a fistful of the back of her shirt, pulling her backwards mightily. With a gasp, Ranau-sensei fell backwards instead of forwards, landing on top of someone on her backside.

"…are you alright, Ranau-sensei?"

The embarrassed and shaky counsellor scrambled off whichever poor person she was squashing with her pregnant weight-and her green-flecked eyes met with calm grey ones. Shiragiku sat up from her sprawled position on the floor, previously cushioning the teacher's backward fall, and stood up, offering a hand to the kneeling teacher. Stunned, the counsellor took it, standing up.

"Ranau-sensei?" Concern faintly flared in Shiragiku's eyes, and Ranau-sensei vaguely noted that the girl was showing more emotion now than in any of their counselling sessions together.

"Y-yes, I'm fine Shiragiku. Thank you for pulling me back there…that was dangerous…" Ranau-sensei answered dazedly.

"It's fine. You must have missed that slippery stuff on the floor. You don't think your baby is hurt do you? At least you're okay."

"No. My baby should be fine. Once again, thank you-for both helping me and my baby, and for your concern," the counsellor answered. The concern in Shiragiku's eyes faded and her eyes became as mild and emotionless as they usually were.

"No problem. Excuse me…" the girl murmured, and turned, ignoring the staring eyes of passer-by students.

"Shiragiku!" The girl stopped at the counsellor's sudden call. "You're not as emotionless as you act out to be! Under that mask on your face, you are very caring! I know-I saw concern in your eyes just earlier, and before that, panic!"

"…perhaps, Ranau-sensei," the girl replied, and walked away.

"That girl has no opinion," Shiragiku overheard one girl mutter. "All she answers with is something along the lines of 'perhaps' or 'maybe'. Nothing special or interesting at all about herself. A bit boring…"

"If she were nothing special, why is she seeing the councillor?" the gossiper's friend replied.

"Shiragiku?"

Said girl turned around at the sound of her name, wryly thinking 'I'm very popular today.'

The person who called her name just then was a pale-skinned boy so short he was shorter than her, and she was known to have a bit of a height problem-nothing high heels couldn't fix, if she bothered to wear some. His hair spiked up quite a bit, coloured violet-tipped black, with meek jagged blonde bangs. His eyes were round, pale shining violet and child-like. Mutou Yugi, Shiragiku recalled vaguely. He was in the same year as her. Beside him, Mazaki Anzu stood, his best friend and reputed protector against bullies. She was the only friend Yugi had, really. If Shiragiku bothered to involve herself in the lives of other people, she might have almost pitied him for being every bully's target in Domino High.

She didn't involve herself in other's lives if she could help it though, and most of the school knew that. This was why most students knew her as an acquaintance, and no further.

"Yes?" Shiragiku answered Yugi's call, so coolly that he flinched, and his loyal friend tensed angrily beside him. Shiragiku's warning was clear-he wasn't to associate herself too closely with her.

"A-are you alright Shiragiku?" he asked timidly. "After all, you did get fallen on by a teacher…"

Something changed in Shiragiku's expression. The change could be compared to a layer of frost on glass melting away. Whatever it was, it made Yugi relax, and some of his shyness abated.

"Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine. Goodbye, Yugi, Anzu," she nodded, and walked away.

"That girl is either emotionless or cold, yet she still manages to be polite…it's honestly a little scary, how she usually only fluctuates between those three qualities," Anzu murmured.

"But I think the counsellor's right," Yugi said. "I think under all that, she's really a kind person. When Ranau-sensei slipped, I could have sworn Shiragiku looked a bit frightened."

"She's not superhuman or special among others," Anzu said. "Of course she would have been a little frightened for Ranau-sensei. Sensei could have been seriously injured."

Shiragiku overheard those words. Behind her curtain of hair, a grim smile twisted her lips.

She was nothing special to her peers. Hopefully they would stay with that opinion. As long as she kept her distance, they wouldn't think of her as any more than a rather strange acquaintance. They wouldn't know…

…her secret.

* * *

Shiragiku entered her house quietly, locking the door behind her. She glanced around, noting that her parents weren't home, and checked her family's spacious, two-storey house.

On the lower floor, the kitchen was immaculately clean and tidy, and smelled of bleach. The stylish, red-schemed living room was also tidy, the cushions arranged artfully on the couch, everything dusted and all bits of furniture, right down to the TV remote, in place or put away. The games room and downstairs bathroom were in similar pristine condition. House perfection at its best and most stylish-typical of her parents, she thought bitterly. They always wanted perfection around them always-surrounded themselves with it, in every aspect of their lives. Since they were somewhat rich, maids were hired to clean the downstairs floor everyday.

In her parents' lives, she was the only imperfect thing they couldn't fix.

Upstairs, where all the bedrooms were, Shiragiku only checked her room and the bathroom attached to it. Contrary to the other checked rooms in her house, her bedroom was slightly messed. Here and there were scattered clothes, and books were set in a messy pile on her desk. Her private bathroom was in the same condition-not messy, but not perfectly tidy like the rest of the house. This part of her house was her domain, and the family house's shame for not being as tidily perfect as the rest of the house.

Similar to how Shiragiku was the bane of her parents' existence.

Her stomach growled, reminding Shiragiku that she needed to venture out of her domain to that infuriatingly tidy kitchen she was almost scared to step in, for fear of leaving dirt traces in there. She did so gingerly, and, opening the fridge, took out an apple to eat.

The phone rang suddenly, a monotonous, even tune, and the tune echoed through the empty house eerily. Shiragiku, long used to the strangeness of a cold, lonely house, let it-probably the call was for one of her parents anyway.

The phone stopped ringing, and the message taker beeped.

"Hi, this is Ranau Tsubame from Domino High School, the counsellor there. I just wanted to again thank Shiragiku for helping me today…she possibly saved my baby from dying, and me from being seriously injured. I must say, Mr. and Mrs Tsukuba, you have a wonderful daughter despite her anti-social tendency. That really is all I have to say, so I'm sorry to bother you about this small thing. Goodbye." The message taker beeped again, indicating the end of the message.

"Shiragiku!" A wince flashed across Shiragiku's face, before it blanked, and she turned around.

A woman stood in the kitchen doorway, hands clasped together. Long, smooth black hair, tied in a low ponytail, reached the woman's back. Thickly lashed, dark brown eyes gazed out from a delicately pale, finely structured face. Pink lips pursed lightly and frowned, yet the frown just made her look even more refined. This woman was so beautiful; she could have passed for a model.

This beautiful woman was the wife of a moderately successful businessman. She was also Shiragiku's mother, and, matched number one with someone else on her list of people she disliked. The one she matched being her dad.

"Mum. You're back," was all Shiragiku said.

"What's this about saving a baby at school today?" her mother demanded.

"The counsellor-she's pregnant-slipped at the top of a staircase today. I was nearby, and stopped her from falling down the stairs. That's all," Shiragiku shrugged.

Her mother eyed her warily, and fear tinged her beautiful eyes. "You used your…power today, didn't you?"

"Power? What power?"

"Don't act stupid with me! You know what I mean!"

"Mum, in the mental world you and dad have created in your head, you either don't have a daughter, or have a child who doesn't have any abnormalities. I know you two enough to know that. I'm not acting stupid. Just playing along."

"You talk as if I'm playing a game. Which I'm not," her mother said coldly.

"Ninety-nine percent of the time you pretend everything in your life is fine and perfect. You might as well be playing a game."

"How dare you!" Her mother's voice shook with suppressed rage. "You don't know what I feel like; having a daughter who-who-who's like you! You, who could predict someone's death at any time-"predict my death at any time-"who can predict tragedies, or know enough information about someone's future movements, to look like a stalker! You don't know what it feels like to have a fre-an abnormality of a daughter!"

Slowly, the corners of Shiragiku's lips curled into a sarcastic smile. Her eyes gazed emotionlessly at her mother, however.

"Please, finish the word you were going to say before changing it," she requested, still wearing that sarcastic smile. "You were going to say a 'freak of a daughter' weren't you? I'm amazed you've been even slightly honest with yourself, and admitted aloud your daughter isn't normal. Let's get straight to the heart of the matter, shall we?" She took a step closer to her mother, who stiffened.

"You're angry with having a 'freak' of a daughter because I'm not perfect. Because in your perfect life; having wealth, beauty and a rich husband; you end up having a completely average looking daughter with a strange ability. I'm the only imperfect thing in your life."

Shiragiku took a few more steps forward, until she was an arms length away from her mother. She raised a hand and slowly reached for her mother's arm. Instinctively, the older (and taller) woman shrank away and quivered.

"What do you feel mum?" Shiragiku asked tonelessly. Her eyes continued to stay emotionless as she bore into her mum's eyes. "What do you feel during the moments you think I'm going to touch you, accidentally or not? I'll tell you my guess. You're _afraid_." She let her hovering hand, which was an inch away from her mum's arm, drop to her side. "You're afraid of what I can do. When I'm in the room, that's all you think about. How scary my abilities are, and to stay as far away from me as possible." She tilted her head slightly. "Am I right?"

Shiragiku's mother fought through her fear, grasping for her voice. "Go to your room," she commanded hoarsely. "Right now. Don't you dare leave it for the rest of the night. A maid will bring you your dinner."

Without a word, Shiragiku turned and went upstairs. Her mother dropped onto a kitchen chair and leant her head on the table.

That was how her husband-a man who matched his wife's beauty with his own refined handsomeness-found her, hours later. Not finding his wife in the foyer, where she normally greeted him, he wandered into the kitchen to find her silently crying. Even if he was a businessman, he did genuinely care about his wife, just like his wife genuinely cared about him, behind all the fortune they had. Maybe love was too strong a word…just a steady relationship where they could support each other when one partner needed it, and go about their lives independently when both didn't. For this reason they married.

Convenience seemed the best word to describe it. And a good deal of tolerance.

"What happened?" he asked his wife. His wife raised her head to him, revealing a weary, tearful face.

"Shiragiku."

That name was all he needed to hear to understand why she was upset. He strode forward and clasped her into a cool, impersonal hug. A mocking imitation of a man comforting his wife, but neither cared. "Did she use her…abilities today?" he asked carefully.

"I think so," his wife replied. "But that's not the reason why I'm in pieces right now. She…she knows us perfectly well. Both of us. Knows…we're scared of her."

"We're not scared of her exactly," he soothed, patiently. Tolerance. "Just wary of her…abilities."

"No!" she cried. "We're scared, and we both know it. We both know the reason too. Well, at least I know mine. I can't be sure, when Shiragiku looks at me, whether she's honestly seeing me, or seeing my future."

"She needs to touch you to do so."

"If she's seen it before though, I doubt she would tell us. She could see us die one day. If she ever sees that, I don't know whether she would tell us, in that toneless, distantly uncaring voice of hers, or whether she would just keep silent, staring at us grimly with those blank eyes! It's the possibilities of what she sees…the freakishness of her ability altogether…that makes us scared."

He couldn't refute what she said. In his mind, he knew she was right. They both feared what their daughter could see, and her ability altogether. It wasn't-wasn't natural!

Upstairs, leaning on the staircase banner, Shiragiku listened to her mother's wailing confessions, and her father's cool reassurances. She bowed her head, letting her hair hide eyes. She shouldn't let her words get to them, she told herself. She had known long ago how her parents felt about her abilities, about their fear for her. She had accepted that she would be spurned by them, and she didn't blame them. Her abilities would be creepy to others who didn't have it. She accepted her parents' reasons for…disliking her.

All the same…

From shadowed, emotionless grey eyes, a tear slid down her cheek.

* * *

_Tsukuba Shiragiku__: a fifteen year old girl who is known as a mere acquaintance by most of her grade peers at school._

_Tsukuba Shiragiku: a mysterious, reclusive girl who is known as a caring girl beneath her impassive exterior by the school councillor._

_Tsukuba Shiragiku: the dark spot of her parents' otherwise perfect existence._

_Tsukuba Shiragiku: a lonely girl who accepts her lot in life, and tries to hide her secret._

…

_Tsukuba Shiragiku: a girl with a 'defective blindfold'._

* * *

What did you think? Please leave a comment.


	2. Chapter 2

Updates will not be regular for this. It's sort of like a side-project, though it doesn't mean I will put any less than my best quality in the chapters.

Longer chapter than last, because I'm trying to fit in Season Zero quickly-one chapter, one episode at least. Season Zero was pretty short, after all.

**Chp 2: First Changes**

* * *

_There's a saying that goes, 'a child will mature by experiencing painful things.' There are cases of children where this may have been taken a little too far._

_Shiragiku __didn't have a bad childhood beginning. Her earliest memories were of her parents smiling at her with pride and satisfaction as they watched her, as a toddler, read out passages from a book designed for primary schoolers. She accepted the hard tutoring regime she was given, always remembering her mother's words, "you must make this business family proud, so we may uphold our good reputation. Refinement and elegance will do this, but you must achieve it." She had not understood such big words at the time, but she had understood the point her mother was making-do well in everything, try to be grown-up, not childish, and become smart. Like her refined, intelligent father, and her beautiful, equally intelligent mother._

'_They are my parents,' was what she thought as she worked hard to achieve what her parents wanted, even if still only a young child. 'I must make them proud. Maybe the next time I prove I can be a good daughter, they will smile at me with the love they say parents' show in picture books. Maybe we can be as happy as the picture books show.'_

_Of course, that was impossible. Picture books were fictional and unreal, showing only what a young child would dream of with eyes closed and blindfolded. She lived in a fantasy world-a hoax of a family life, where her parents would 'love' her as long as she brought pride to the family. Still, it was a pretty mirage she had behind her blindfold to reality, and one she worked hard to keep on as long as possible._

* * *

Shiragiku watched as around her, small changes started to happen. She wondered briefly when the balance of the world had been turned upside-down. Enemies making friends, the sane becoming insane…

It began soon after Ranau-sensei's incident, when Ushio was found one morning crouched on the ground, wailing and panicking, shouting that monsters were attacking him and pleading for help. Ushio was well known throughout the school as the leader of the Public Morale group. With his dark hair, huge pencil eyebrows and narrow stare, he cut a forbidding, stern image which intimidated students. His reputation for brute force and his known powerful physical strength garnered terror and respect from others. It was a shock for the whole school to find Ushio cowering on the ground, apparently hallucinating. He was rushed to hospital, and never heard from again.

On the same day, a bruised and battered Yugi started being friends with equally bruised and battered Katsuya Jounouchi and Hiroto Honda. Katsuya Jounouchi, brown eyed with dirty-blond hair, was renowned for bullying Yugi previously, along with his brown haired partner.

Also, around Yugi's neck hung a strange upside-down pyramid with an eye engraving. It looked antique.

They weren't huge changes, Shiragiku reflected. Well, except for the fact that bullies and victim had suddenly become best friends, and along with Anzu, had made an odd friendship group. (Ushio always seemed a little…off.) That such a group of contrasting personalities became friends was surprising. But it wasn't really her business. As long as she remembered that, nothing would affect her. Still…

It was hard not to expect change when such an odd, explosive friendship group formed. They were far too lively to ignore, and far too animated and hot-blooded not to get involved with others. Shiragiku mentally sighed, remembering how noisy they got in class. She knew first hand…she sat next to Jounouchi in class…

Lost in contemplation, Shiragiku instinctively moved aside to avoid being caught amongst a gaggle of giggly seniors, and accidentally bumped into none other then one of the members of the explosive friendship group, Anzu.

"Ah, sorry…"

_**Anzu struggled against**__** a man who was restraining her none too gently, one hand covering her mouth. With the other hand he pointed a small handgun at her. His lime green shirt was in miniscule tatters, and he was sporting a malicious, smug expression.**_

"_**If anyone moves, she dies!" he shouted, pressing his gun to Anzu.**_

"Shiragiku!"

Shiragiku blinked, and stared blankly up at Anzu for a moment. Then she remembered where she was, and attempted to regain her wits "A-ah, sorry, did I space out?"

"Er, yeah, you did," Anzu nodded. Out of politeness, she asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No," Shiragiku said quietly. "No, I'm fine. Thank you for asking, and sorry for staring. I'm just a little out of things today." She walked away, calm-looking as ever.

Anzu stared after her, hands on hips. 'She's just like usual. She hasn't changed.' She paused. 'Was I expecting change? Maybe, since it's been so different with Jounouchi and Honda as friends, along with Yugi who always seems to attract some sort of attention, no matter how meek he is. It's been lively lately.' She smiled briefly at her own thoughts, and then turned to more worrying ones. 'This waitress job will give me grey hairs prematurely with all the worry it's causing me.'

Shiragiku turned her head to stare discreetly at Anzu. Behind calm grey eyes she calculated concern from a conscience vs. her policy of not getting involved with others.

She made a decision-conscience won.

* * *

'I shouldn't get involved in this,' she thought for the thousandth time that day.

Shiragiku had been keeping tabs on Anzu all day, waiting for the time when that incident she had a vision of could possibly occur. All the while, she had been mentally arguing with herself, trying to decide if getting involved with this was a good idea. This was unlike her, why was she getting involved? Anzu didn't deserve to have a gun put to her though and-what if that man in her vision was one of the escaped criminals everyone was fearful about lately?!

Shiragiku watched Anzu as she walked down the street. Every time Anzu turned around to look over her shoulder Shiragiku retreated behind the street corner she was at-thank goodness there were walls. However, she was feeling somewhat guilty, and uncomfortably nervous. This 'tagging Anzu' plan made her feel like a stalker-a first time one.

Just then, she looked at the corner across from hers, on the other side of the road, and spotted two boys also peeking after Anzu, just as she herself had been doing moments ago. Were they following her too?

Anzu walked almost completely out of her sight, and the two male spies, AKA Yugi and Jounouchi, rushed after her, stopping to dive behind a random object as Anzu turned around again. Honestly, it was surprising that those two hadn't been seen yet. Shiragiku shrugged, and decided to just follow the two boys. They would lead her straight to where Anzu was going, and it was more discreet than following Anzu directly.

She eventually caught up to the two boys, who were standing, bewildered, right outside Burger World, the new food joint that had recently opened up. "Hello," she addressed them.

Jounouchi jumped as high as his height. "You scared me! Don't go sneaking up behind people!" he said.

Shiragiku apologised. "But why are you here?"

"Eh, can't a guy relax after school? What's wrong with being here?!" Jounouchi said defensively. Yugi sweat-dropped-Jounouchi looked ready to explode from nervousness.

"Why are you here anyway?" Jounouchi asked Shiragiku, somewhat more calmly. She shrugged.

"I just wanted to see this new food joint everyone was talking about. I don't know many good places to eat out," she replied. Jounouchi scratched his head.

"Doesn't matter where you eat, as long as there's food, you eat, right?" he asked. Yugi sweat-dropped once more-Jounouchi was thinking with his stomach again.

"At least your friend isn't wasteful," Shiragiku told Yugi. Jounouchi coughed; somewhat annoyed that he was being referred to as if he wasn't there, and announced that they should go in together.

They approached the door, and it swung open easily. A waitress in a mostly lime green outfit stood at the entrance, smiling welcomingly. "Welcome to Burger World! I'll get you seated in…just…a…" she trailed off, horrified.

'Anzu?!' was what went through the minds of Yugi, Jounouchi and Shiragiku.

* * *

Yugi fidgeted restlessly in his seat, nervous and uncomfortable. Opposite him, Shiragiku was coping with her own discomfort by doing the exact opposite of his actions, sitting straight-backed and still, just as her mother had taught her about etiquette. Ever careful of her surroundings and actions, Shiragiku noticed Yugi peeking at Anzu every few moments, blushing. 'Ah, a crush…'

In contrast to the two, Jounouchi looked relaxed and unbothered, slumping back into his seat in a laid-back fashion. What he was smug about-finding out Anzu had an after-school job, or finding out she was breaking school rules by having an after-school job, Shiragiku didn't know. Though he could just be relaxed because he didn't particularly care about either factor.

Anzu came to their table, bearing a platter of their ordered burgers. She slammed it down onto the table so hard the food trembled, and gave them a cross between a venomously angry glare and a malicious smirk. "Here's you order!" she proclaimed with forced cheer.

She picked up a ketchup bottle, and Jounouchi and Yugi instinctively shrank back at the potential weapon in her hand. "Please allow me to give you some of our famous ketchup as well!" she said in the same tone as before, and proceeded to write a messy message on the burgers:

_Blab and you're dead!_

Yugi gulped at the message. Some of the menace in Anzu's face left however, and she sighed.

"I guess I can't hide this anymore," she said, and proceeded to tell her classmates about her dream to study dance in New York. "Don't tell anyone!"

Yugi blinked and nodded; surprised she would think they would. It seemed like a private matter. Jounouchi just gave a small smile. "Relax Anzu, your secret is safe with us," he said.

"It's your own business whether to tell someone your dreams or not. We found out by accident-sorry," Shiragiku said, a little awkwardly. She'd never had to apologise for prying before.

Jounouchi made a face, dispelling the serious atmosphere. "But we'd better not have to pay for these burgers. All that ketchup on the burgers…makes it hardly edible…"

"They're on me!" Anzu replied, walking off.

Shiragiku raised an eyebrow at Jounouchi. "So you do have a limit to your stomach."

"It's not a limit! But this isn't the best quality they have here, and I want better quality than this mush," Jounouchi protested, pointing at the lumpy puddle of red on the tray.

Yugi was staring at something, Shiragiku noticed. She peered curiously at the direction he was staring at. Jounouchi, noting his companions' interest in that area, looked too.

Anzu, the manager of Burger World, and another person wearing a brown trench coat were huddled together, talking quietly. Whatever they were discussing seemed deeply serious, since all were frowning in alarm.

"An escaped criminal may be here?!" the manager exclaimed. Yugi's eyes widened, while Jounouchi's narrowed. Shiragiku sat perfectly still-was this the situation leading up to her future vision of Anzu, held at gun point?

The stranger in the trench coat nodded at the manager. "Yes." He held up a photo. "This man was last seen around this area, very close to here. He's very good at disguising himself. Even as chief inspector, it's hard for me to locate him. It's rare to catch him without a disguise, but he can be recognised by one characteristic."

"What is it? Maybe this can help," the manager urged.

"While escaping gaol, one of the guards was able to hit him on the right calf with his baton. It should have left a bruise. If anyone in here has a mark like that, it might be him."

Anzu frowned, casting her glance around, and her gaze landed on a basket of small toy cars. "I might have a way to check everyone. There's a basket of toy cars over there. If someone were to tip them over and scatter them…" she let the idea hang. The manager and inspector nodded in approval of her idea, and she walked back to her eavesdropping friends. Jounouchi quietly offered his help.

Anzu accepted, and pointed out the basket of toy cars. Jounouchi casually stood nearby it and 'accidentally' knocked the basket over. The toy cars scattered all across the room, rolling under customer's feet, tables and chairs.

"Jounouchi!" Anzu yelled, falsely angry, and dragged a fake-reluctant Jounouchi with her to help clean up the mess (as well as check people's legs for bruises).

Yugi stayed behind, watching as the delicate search mission went on before him. 'Everyone's being so brave,' he thought. Why couldn't he be as brave?

Catching sight of his ashamed expression, Shiragiku murmured, "Too many people helping would make things awkward and a little more disorientating." Inwardly though, she was worried about the outcome of this. What could she do to change her vision?

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you…!" a sudden yell interrupted her contemplating. One of the customers had become angry over Anzu's covert checking.

The manager rushed forward. "My apologies, but there is an emergency!" he intervened hurriedly. Except the customer wouldn't calm down. The inspector strode forward, and shoved his badge of office under the man's nose. The customer immediately quietened, as well as everyone in the whole room.

"Please excuse us," the inspector announced. "But we believe an escaped criminal is in here. We must check your legs, since the criminal supposedly has a bruise on his right calf."

"That's easy to cover up though," Shiragiku said quietly to the inspector. "Doesn't he have some other characteristic…or maybe something he would react to…" She'd watched crime shows (out of her mother's sight) where people were identified as criminals by reactions to questions or words.

The inspector looked down at his notepad. "Well, since this is a restaurant, this might warrant saying…it seems he has a strong allergic reaction to eggs."

"This'll be easier than I thought then," Anzu proclaimed triumphantly.

"Oh, why?" the manager asked. She grinned at him.

"You of all people should know, boss. There's plenty of egg in our burger buns!"

One man at the back of the restaurant began to fidget. The fidgeting turned into shaking, and then into panting. The inspector noticed, and strode over to him, asking casually, "Are you alright sir?"

The customer ignored the inspector, and shoved him aside. "Out of my way!" he yelled, and raced for the exit. His hat and wig fell off though, and his true identity was revealed. The inspector restrained him by the arms.

"Tetsu Tasaki, you're under arrest!" But the criminal didn't seem to care.

"Please!" he begged. "Call an ambulance! I'm _seriously_ allergic to eggs!"

Anzu laughed then. "For a master of disguise, you're pretty gullible," she said with a smug grin. Tetsu stared at her blankly. "There aren't any eggs in our burger-we use one hundred percent wheat flour."

Tetsu stared for a moment more, until the fact finally sunk in: he had been tricked. Roaring with rage, he charged forward, out of the inspector's grasp, and right into the restaurant manager, where he hesitated.

Shiragiku mentally sighed with relief-her vision had not come true. Circumstances had changed, or something unexpected and overlooked had interfered with the situation. Whatever it was, it had saved Anzu from a potential life-threatening danger.

She caught Yugi staring at the manager and Tetsu, a worried, frightened expression on his face. What was he worried about? His friend was fine…

The inspector dragged Tetsu away from the manager. Protesting, Tetsu grabbed the manager's shirt, refusing to let go. With a sudden, tearing sound, the shirt ripped, revealing a gigantic, ugly spider tattoo on the manager's back. The spider was black and yellow.

"Jirou, the Yellow Spider?!" Tetsu yelled. Suddenly, the situation became worse than before. One restrained criminal, and one highly dangerous, _unrestrained_ criminal.

Oh no…

Exposed, the manager-now revealed as Jirou-did the only thing he could do to control the situation. Shiragiku's vision was about to come true-but not without her trying to change it, right up to the last moment beforehand.

Jirou snatched the pistol that hung from Tetsu's belt and grabbed Anzu, shouting, "If anyone moves, she dies!" He hadn't quite managed to grab Anzu though. He managed to grab one arm only. Snarling, he levelled the pistol at the person who had grabbed the other arm before he did.

'You totally failed helping in this situation,' Shiragiku told herself, staring at the gun cautiously. She still clutched Anzu's hand though, having been right next to it before. 'Why are you still trying to get involved? It's pointless. Get out of it now!'

She mentally told her policy to temporarily go to hell. It wasn't helping her right now.

Slowly, shakily, she raised her free hand up. For some reason though, her trembling, occupied hand would not let go of Anzu's. It seemed…wrong. She had tried to help someone, it seemed…criminal to retract that hand back.

"_You're not as emotionless as you act out to be! Under that mask on your face, you are very caring!__" Ranau-sensei shouted._

"_She's not superhuman or special among others," Anzu said. "Of course she would have been a little frightened…"_

'No,' Shiragiku thought fleetingly as she stared at the gun pointed at her, and then at Anzu's hand. 'I'm not special, though I've been called a freak. Even freaks for humans have feelings. I'm dead scared right now, but I've trained so long not to show anything obvious on my face that I can't react to that gun properly. Everything just seems so detached…which is good. I've still got some common sense left.'

"Let go of the wench!" Jirou shouted.

"As you wish…" Shiragiku answered tonelessly. Anzu instinctively flinched, scared to be left 'alone'. "I-If you let her go too."

"Wench-!" Jirou made to pull the trigger, but she was nodding to a point over his shoulder. Jirou paused.

"T-the i-ins-spector be-behind you has a-a gun on him right now-I saw earlier," Shiragiku said in the same toneless voice as before. Her eyes were completely flat, and revealed nothing.

'Shiragiku, be quiet! You'll only get yourself killed,' Anzu thought desperately.

The slight stutters (by complete accident), the hoarse tonelessness and the girl's trembling arms assured Jirou she was scared stiff, meaning she knew she was powerless. Yet she was still talking.

"If you shoot now the inspector will have time to draw his gun and shoot you. Then you would only be caught again. Besides, having the daughter of a wealthy business family as hostage would work more effectively for you if I'm alive."

Jirou narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"

"Tsukuba Shiragiku, only child of the Tsukuba business family, which has ties to several successful corporations," Shiragiku rattled off. She tightened her hold on Anzu's hand warningly. "Please don't kill Anzu. She's close friends with my family, and would benefit you more alive than dead."

'The only honest thing I've said so far is about my own personal family details. I don't know how much longer I can pretend to be calm like this, before cracking.' Shiragiku thought bleakly.

Yugi stared at the girl seated beside him, terrified and at the same time awed. Shiragiku was being so brave, and still didn't look too ruffled to boot, despite having a gun pointed at her head. He himself was almost at the limit of how much terror he could cope with-the edges of his vision seemed a little dark…

"You! Shrimp!" Jirou boomed, and Yugi realised the criminal was referring to himself. "Separate their hands, and show the insides to me, so I can check nothing dangerous is in between." The possible stupidity of what he said was almost laughable, if it wasn't for the gun he was waving around. "Everyone else get down on the floor or both die regardless of worth!"

Everyone was quick to comply-he was still a loose wheel, no one knew what he had decided. Jirou yanked a now unrestrained Anzu to his side. Gun held frighteningly close to her, Jirou removed the hair ribbon she was wearing and tied it around her eyes. He then placed the gun briefly at her temple. Anzu froze-it didn't look like she was even breathing.

Yugi knew what Jirou was doing. Some criminals blindfolded their victims, causing them to be so terrified they couldn't even scream.

Jirou dragged Anzu to a table and sat down, dragging her down next to him. He cocked his gun at a shaky Shiragiku. "You too, wench, get over here, or I'll shoot this girl. As long as I have one, I can still ransom."

Barely able to keep her balance, Shiragiku stumbled over to where he was. Following the motions of his gun, she sat down warily.

Even with only one gun, just its presence could cause enough fear to immobilise a room full of people.

"You! Pathetic little shrimp, don't just stand there-get me some smokes and alcohol from the back room, and hurry up about it!" he barked.

Knowing it was better to just obey his orders (he was too scared to do anything else anyway); Yugi scampered off to get what was demanded, and hastily came back.

'Little shrimp? Who else…there's no one else that would fill that height description but Yugi!' Anzu realised. The closer he got, the more dangerous a position he would be in! She stood up, looking around vainly. "Yugi! Yugi, is that you? Stay back! Please!"

"Shut up!" Jirou snarled, and slapped her across the face. Shiragiku twitched, but the gun was promptly aimed at her.

"Anzu!" Yugi cried, and rage and terror overwhelmed him. 'I'm helpless-I can't do anything! Shiragiku, Anzu!' he thought despairingly, and his consciousness faded away.

* * *

Shiragiku observed Yugi with hidden concern, as he bowed his head, closing his eyes. When he opened them, the cute violet naiveté was gone, replaced by narrowed crimson. She started slightly with shock-what happened to him?

Around them, a dark black fog began to grow, enveloping the place and hiding everything but Jirou, his table and items, Anzu and Yugi from sight. The darkness was cold and constantly moving-it made her uneasy. What was going on?

Yugi set the platter of cigarettes and alcohol down with a smirk that would never have been seen on the previous Yugi's face. It would be incongruous with those innocent eyes before, but with these present intense eyes, looked almost sinister. "Here you are, sir," he said, and even his voice sounded different, somehow.

He then proceeded to do what the Yugi from five minutes ago would never have been bold enough to do-he sat down opposite the criminal, next to Shiragiku, still with a smirk on his face as if he was only sitting down to a game of chess.

Jirou glared at this different version of Yugi angrily, and cocked his gun at him. "Who said you could sit with me?!"

"I thought you might like some company," Yugi said, shrugging. "How about we play a game while we're at it?"

Anzu and Shiragiku paused-one shocked; one intent. Shiragiku continued to fathom what the heck had brought on Yugi's personality change while Anzu, eyes blindfolded, wondered who this newcomer, who she was sure wasn't Yugi, was.

"A game?" Jirou considered. "I used to gamble a lot-I guess I could spare some time."

"However," Yugi continued. "This will not be an ordinary game. It will be a Shadow Game."

Shiragiku had had enough-what was Yugi playing at? This was dangerous, and he was challenging this criminal to a _game_? She reached out slowly under the table, searching for an article of clothing to yank so she could drag him back into sanity, and accidentally tapped his ribs.

_**The surrounding area was dark, though not in the same sense as night. The whole area seemed covered with a mass of fog and shadows**__**-it made Shiragiku claustrophobic, and she wasn't even in this place physically. Within this shadowy space, stood Jirou and Yugi, but different to even the Yugi that had just challenged Jirou to a game. This Yugi had a golden eye outlined on his forehead, and his own crimson eyes seemed almost ablaze with fury.**_

"_**A Shadow Game reveals a person's true nature, which is the only thing this third eye can see. For those who attempt to cheat, it is destined to be a game of punishment," Yugi said, and it echoed like a death sentence.**_

_**Jirou roared furiously at Yugi, and aimed his gun at him. "Bastard!" he screamed, pulling the trigger half-way. Yugi didn't react though-if anything, he grew stiller, and the darkness around not only became claustrophobic, but extremely ominous too.**_

"_**The door to darkness has**__** opened," Yugi simply said.**_

_**A light flashed from behind Yugi-or was it from himself? Shocked, Jirou jerked his hand upward, accidentally pulling the trigger fully. Bullet dispensed, green flames began to spill out, burning the gun. The unnatural fire spread from the gun to his arm, to his entire body.**_

_**Jirou screamed and screamed as he was burnt alive…**_

Another hand pushed her own back to her. Shiragiku twitched violently, but somehow managed to keep a straight face. However, she couldn't control her hands, which trembled even worse than before. She discreetly buried her trembling hands into her lap, and glanced at Yugi.

'You are not yourself, Yugi,' she thought. 'Whoever you are, whatever personality that is acting now, it's brutal.'

His eyes flickered to her, for just a moment. What she saw didn't reassure her-just a whole lot of confidence, and the hint of a triumphant smirk. It was a little unnerving actually, considering what she had just witnessed in her vision.

While she had been witnessing a vision, the rules for the game had already been set-each person playing (only Yugi and Jirou, of course) could only move one finger from all ten fingers. Jirou had chosen his index finger-the finger on the trigger of the gun pointed at Yugi. Yugi had chosen his thumb.

"Don't forget," Yugi reminded, "That this is a game where your life is at stake. Any objections?" Jirou only grinned maliciously. Yugi returned him the favour with one of his own. "Then game start."

"And now it's game over!" Jirou cackled, aiming his gun. The sound of a click made him pause. Glancing at the lit lighter in Yugi's hand, and then at the unlit cigarette in his mouth, he assumed the kid was just prolonging his own suffering. He would let the kid light his cigarette, and then shoot.

Yugi smirked. "This is your lighter isn't it?" he almost chuckled. "I'll give it back to you, and just leave it…here." He tilted his hand carefully, just enough for the lighter to slip out of his hold. It landed right on the hand Jirou was pouring his alcohol with. Right under that hand was a glass full of high-quality alcohol. Yugi tilted his head, amused, as horror crossed Jirou's face. He seemed to be daring the criminal to shoot.

If Jirou fired his gun, the recoil would knock the lighter into the alcohol overflowing from his cup and into his lap. He would be burnt alive! Tricked and trapped, just like Tetsu had been.

Shiragiku quietly gasped when Yugi seized her hand and Anzu's, pulling them up. "Let's go!" he said, pulling them in one direction.

Behind her, Shiragiku could hear clattering sounds coming from the criminal's table, and violent curses. "Bastard!" he roared.

The sound of a gunshot made both Anzu and herself jump, but Yugi pulled them both on, out of the dark fog which had been surrounding the table. Just in time for the broken screams to begin. Like a broken recording, Jirou's voice didn't stop, screaming, whimpering and crying out for mercy.

"Anzu! Shiragiku! Yugi!" Jounouchi yelled, racing up to them. "You all alright?"

"Y-yeah," Anzu said, pulling off the blindfold over her eyes. She cast a glance around for the person who rescued Shiragiku herself, but didn't find anyone out of place.

It was a pity Yugi's back was to her-had she seen his eyes closely, she probably would have been suspicious of their crimson tinge. However, he was facing Shiragiku, who was giving him a calculating glance.

She should fear him-those crimson tainted eyes were staring at her with a small smirk that definitely wasn't gentle; it unsettled her. As he had just demonstrated with that criminal, Yugi could be quite a brutal person, if those screams were anything to go by. But he was such a…well, pushover, at school. Just who exactly was he? The pushover, or the harsh character?

"Yugi!" Anzu called. Yugi smirked at Shiragiku, and put a finger to his lips-don't tell what?-and blinked. When he opened his eyes, they were once again round, naïve and completely violet. Shiragiku noticed with some surprise that he seemed to lose some height-or was it just that his shoulders slumped now? Yugi stared back at Shiragiku with a bewildered expression on his face, before turning to respond to Anzu.

Shiragiku blinked, bewildered herself-what was that about? Shaking her head, she decided she had become far too involved with others. It was time to pull herself out. She slipped away back home, before anyone realised she had left the scene.

* * *

"Shiragiku!"

'This early in the morning…?' Shiragiku thought a little moodily. She was still a little confused with Yugi, and her confusion irritated her. She was in no mood to think about yesterday's incident.

"Hey! You left suddenly yesterday. Where'd you go?" Jounouchi asked. He, Anzu and Yugi caught up to her. She blinked, and regarded them with the same mild, calm expression she usually wore.

"I went home yesterday. I didn't want to get in the way of the inspector," she said.

"He was looking for you-said you should have gone to hospital, in case you went into sudden shock," Yugi said. He frowned, concerned. "You're okay right? We were worried, because we knew about each other, but we couldn't find you."

"I'm fine," Shiragiku said coolly. "There's no need for you to concern yourself over me. Thank you though, for asking. Excuse me…" She turned away, distant and somehow polite as always.

"You haven't changed at all!" Anzu shouted. Shiragiku stopped. Some of her irritation sprung out, though she said and expressed nothing. She turned back and stepped close to Yugi. Hesitantly, she put a hand to his forehead.

No brutal visions. Either her vision blindfold was refusing to slip now, or Yugi was going to stay out of trouble for a short while at least.

"Hm, you don't have a temperature," Shiragiku covered. "You seem alright-at least the shock didn't affect you too badly." She checked Anzu visually too, who seemed fine.

Jounouchi sprang up way too close to her for comfort. "What's this? Is that concern you're showing?!" he cried. "Finally the ice has melted! I didn't know you had it in you!"

Isn't that what a lot of people said…?

"I don't know what you're talking about," Shiragiku said, straight faced as ever. She nodded at them and walked away again. This time, she didn't turn back, or glance back even once.

"Jounouchi you idiot!" Anzu yelled, hitting him. Jounouchi ducked from her blows.

"What did I do?" he whined.

"She was being nice and going out of character, and you made things awkward for her!"

They continued bickering, and rapidly turned to the incident yesterday.

"What do you mean; you didn't see who rescued Anzu yesterday, Yugi!" Jounouchi yelled. "You were right there!"

"I don't even know what you're talking about!" Yugi defended himself.

Jounouchi and Anzu exchanged glances. "You do remember what happened yesterday, don't you?" Maybe Shiragiku was wrong with the assumption that Yugi was fine.

Yugi shook his head. "Not all of it. I remember the mess with Jirou, him blindfolding Anzu and forcing both her and Shiragiku to a table, but after that it gets kind of blurry…"

"That must be the shock kicking in," Anzu said decisively. "We were lucky to get out of that alive." Then her expression changed to one of surprise. "I forgot to thank Shiragiku for yesterday! She got pulled into it because of me. And I could have asked her about who rescued us…"

In the school counsellor's office, just down the corridor, Shiragiku pursed her lips slightly. Ranau-sensei, who was sitting right across from her, noticed. "Shiragiku, is something wrong?"

How could Yugi not remember what happened yesterday?! Shiragiku herself had also been scared-ten times more scared than she had let on-and she still had a distinct memory.

"Shiragiku!" Shiragiku barely controlled her jerk, as she focused on Ranau-sensei.

"Ah, sorry."

"Is something bothering you?"

"Maybe." She hesitated, and then admitted reluctantly, "I got involved in things I wasn't meant to."

She wouldn't say anything more for the rest of their hour, and her expression remained as closed and unreadable as ever. Ranau-sensei had to smile though. That little bit of information was a change from their routine of unanswered or rejected questions-Shiragiku had willingly given a small bit of information.

Yes, there were small changes happening in the school, and in the students. It remained to be seen whether they were changes for the better or worse.

* * *

_Change had never symbolised a good thing for Shiragiku. Not that they symbolised extremely bad things for her-but most of the dramatic changes in her life had been…unpleasant._

_Her first one occurred before she was six. It was__ when her precognitive blindfold first slipped._

"_Mum__, Uncle is going away."_

_Soon after, her Uncle died. And her blindfold to reality fell away, lost._

* * *

**Please review.**

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

I'm very, very sorry for not updating sooner. Originally I had planned to get this out months ago, and then this whole slew of things got in the way, camp and school problems and friends going absolutely nuts on me, insisting I should get out more. Something my parents agreed on. (It's probably true.) Then my grasp on the english language skewed, and all nouns became that 'thingamy-over-there'. Verbs lost tenses, grammar completely mixed up. I refused to screw up any story by writing in that state.

Exams came up during that screwed up time (a shame for my english exam) and I had to study for them--still got bad grades, bah. Then my family and I went overseas for a short while...

Yeah, a whole lot of excuses. I should probably stop babbling now, and get on with it.

Ah, I'm sorry if it seems I've replied twice to some reviews, and if it seems I haven't replied at all to anyone's. When I tried to reply, the reply URL only let me reply to two of them, and that might have redirected me to the PM section...the rest it seems I've replied to, but I have no memory of actually doing so. Maybe because I did it ages ago. I'm very sorry!

Someone remarked on the level of detail in this story--something I'm not always prone to. I'm still recovering from the loss of english coherency, so forgive me if this chapter seems a bit...dull. It seems to lack the same level of quality (whatever level that is) as other chapters. If Shiragiku seems a little different to the previous chapters, it's because I haven't updated for so long that her character is a little vague for me. Gomen nasai.

Thank you for the reviews. Ah, one last message--this will be the last chapter I type from Season Zero. Next chapter will go into the first official season. Should I make Kaiba respect her, her father being a clever business associate, or make him snub her like he does everyone else? Or both? Just a thought.

* * *

**Chp 3: Psychic vs. Psychic**

_

* * *

Shiragiku's Uncle was not known as a soft man. Like his married brother, he did well in the business world, and had several dealings with high-profile corporations, businesses and organisations, including most prominently Kaiba Corporation, Paradias and Sony. In the ruthless world of business, one could not be soft. He was smart, handsome, he had a silver tongue, and he was charismatic—traits he shared with his brother, which both utilised. The only trait he did not share with his brother was his love for family._

_He himself was unmarried, and he was aware that his blood brother and sister-in-law were not good people to love (family-wise)—from a young age they were raised and accepted the business world's view that true affection was weakness. (He accepted the view himself, but it did not mean he did not resent it.) He had no wish to get a wife since most women around him were gold diggers or airheads and unworthy, so his family affections fell on the youngest in the Tsukuba family—his niece Shiragiku._

_Shiragiku liked her Uncle. Liked him almost better than her parents, she was ashamed to admit. Her Uncle behaved almost the same way as her parents-expecting her to uphold a good reputation for the Tsukuba family, encouraging her to study hard, all a high-profile business family expects of its children. However, Shiragiku received something from her Uncle that her parents did not give freely._

_It was in the way his eyes melted from cold glaciers to merely thin ice; in the way he closely observed her smile with a hint of satisfaction when she happily thanked him for the occasional small gifts he bought for her; in the way he didn't try to shake her off as her father discreetly did when she hugged his legs. He gave her a private form of love, and no matter how subtle it was, she grasped onto it and hugged it close to her heart. He never said anything, but Shiragiku always felt it was easier to love her Uncle than her parents. Maybe it was because in his deeply hidden heart, her Uncle loved her more than her own parents did, and she sensed it. Young children were naively astute that way._

_Perhaps this was why Shiragiku let herself act impulsively for him, despite her dignified, proud upbringing._

_It was just one of his occasional visits, for a business dealing that required both himself and his brother to work together. Though of course, he would have eventually come to visit the Tsukuba family anyway, to see his secretly treasured niece. (He would never admit that fact, that supposed weakness, openly though.)_

_The Tsukuba family was seeing him off politely at the end of their meeting. For the sake of formality, he didn't hug Shiragiku like he normally would in private, but held his hand out for her to shake, a cool expression on his face._

_Shiragiku played the game, shaking his hand with an equally blank expression. Then she stiffened and latched onto him, despite her parents' disapproving looks._

"_Don't go!"_

_Her Uncle raised an eyebrow at the outburst-silently warning her that her parents were watching. She flushed, and continued in a more moderate tone, "You can not stay for a little longer? Overnight even?"'Maybe', Shiragiku thought, 'if the timing was radically different, it would change the future outcome.'_

_Her Uncle looked at her strangely. Shiragiku had never protested her reluctance for him to leave openly. Controlled as she was raised to be, she had always accepted that he would have to leave after a visit, and waited impatiently for his next one._

"_No, Shiragiku," he replied. "I should not disturb you and your parents any longer. Goodbye." He turned and left._

"_You won't come back!"_

_He kept walking, chalking up her outburst to the silly sulking of a child. Though those were odd words to shout-did she mean she would not let him come visit again? 'How childish,' he thought, 'and uncharacteristic of Shira'. He pondered her outburst as he ducked gracefully into his limousine and drove away._

_He was still pondering it later when he heard the scream of brakes suddenly going off, and his driver cursing. He urgently peered out the windscreen, into two oncoming headlights._

'_Is this what you meant, Shira…?' he thought dazedly, before two cars smashed into each other._

_At that exact moment, within the Tsukuba family house, Shiragiku fell to the ground on her knees. Her sad grey eyes were transfixed on the moon outside-it had vanished behind a cloud. Just like she had seen when she shook her Uncle's hand. The cause for his departure had happened._

_What she saw before though…it couldn't possibly happen! She had to be daydreaming before, while shaking her Uncle's hand. Such terrible daydreams though…maybe it wasn't? Should she have tried harder to keep her Uncle back? Maybe her lack of drastic action had permanently hurt her Uncle!_

_Shiragiku's mother, shocked at her daughter falling, hurried to her._

"_What's gotten into you Shiragiku? Are you ill?"_

_Shiragiku shook her head. "Mum, Uncle is going away," she reported shakily. In an almost inaudible voice, she added, "and it's my fault."_

_It was only later that Shiragiku's mother realised what her daughter meant._

* * *

The tension could be seen in almost every student of the school, from the carefree lower-years to the raucous, ruling upper-years. It hung heavy in the classrooms, buzzed continuously through the corridors.

Domino High was in the midst of a civil war.

There were two opposing factions, lots of gender division and heated arguments. The two leaders of the aforementioned opposing factions: the least likely to be contested, and the least likely to get involved in such a war.

Kokurano-self-proclaimed, popular psychic; and Tsukuba Shiragiku-quiet, distant antisocialist.

From the day Kokurano had transferred from another school to Shiragiku's class, tension had risen between him and Shiragiku. She had politely listened to him during introductions to the class, and from there on refused to take anymore interest in him. Even when he had proclaimed and 'proved' to the general school population that he was a psychic, she had only observed quietly and gone about her own business-as if he didn't matter.

Kokurano, used to being the centre of _everyone's_ attention, found her disinterest infuriating. When he discovered that Anzu, the target of his 'affections', also had no interest in him or his psychic powers (actually believed he was a fraud), it enraged him even further. He believed that Shiragiku had influenced Anzu's outlook somehow, though Shiragiku barely spoke with anyone more than was necessary or polite, and repeatedly dodged Anzu's attempts to talk to her since the incident with Jirou the Yellow Spider. How Kokurano had come to that conclusion was a mystery.

For a week after his transfer into Domino High, Kokurano passingly tried to gain Shiragiku's attentions-she wasn't the prettiest girl in the grade (in his opinion, Anzu was), but she was one of the only girls in the school not to come to him for predictions almost every lunch time. No one, especially of the female calling, ignored _him_. After a week, he began to vent his frustration.

He began teasing her, lightly at first. Shiragiku ignored it-she was above such pettiness. After a few days, his teasing became nastier (since teasing people about going to the councillor was exceptionally rude-most of the school avoided that fact about her). Shiragiku reluctantly responded with icy retorts which at one stage mentioned him being an attention-seeking brat with a tall pole stuck up somewhere unmentionable. (That ruined her completely polite image-admiring onlookers compared her to a long-dormant volcano finally becoming active.) She was rather socially detached, but no pushover-unlike someone in the grade who happened to have a split personality, but only she knew that and she was determined to ignore the existence of said split.

Kokurano's followers, which included almost all of the female school population, followed his lead with taunting, thinking Shiragiku had somehow insulted the 'great seer' first. The explosive friendship group, being as interfering, rebellious and loud as they usually were, defended Shiragiku. This in turn dragged their names through the bad graces of the female population. The male population, jealous of Kokurano stealing all the attention of the girls and thrilled at the appearance of a 'rebel group', loudly insulted the self-proclaimed psychic. That sparked fiery responses from the girls, which in turn garnered angry responses from the boys-

And before everyone knew it, Domino High had erupted into a verbal war. Most of the time, Kokurano and Shiragiku, the original instigators of the 'war', had not even been involved. Their war had moved to a more personal level.

A cold war where Kokurano was defending his claim as a seer, and Shiragiku knew perfectly well he wasn't. And though Kokurano wasn't sure how Shiragiku discovered this fact, he knew that she truthfully knew he was a fraud.

It had been a simple matter to make Kokurano stop insulting her every time they were in the same room after Shiragiku's correct conclusion.

"I know you're a fraud," she told him privately after a particularly vicious insult towards her and her 'guard dogs'-Kokurano's insult for the explosive friendship group. Shiragiku wasn't 'guarded' by anyone, thank you. "I've got enough evidence to rip apart your reputation in the space of ten minutes. If you value your popularity, I suggest you be quiet."

Blackmail. Simple, but effective. To prove she knew, she plucked at the mantle he always wore around his shoulders as she walked passed him. He shut up after that.

Kokurano's claim of being a psychic was false-he had dozens of paper slips pinned to the inside of his mantle, each with a possible prediction written on them. It would be a simple matter to take one of the slips from the inside of his mantle, and claim for it to be a prediction he made earlier during the day about an event that had just come to pass three seconds ago.

It wasn't her psychic talent that told Shiragiku this though. Maybe it was only her that dared to come close enough to Kokurano to pluck at his mantle, or maybe it was just because she was more observant than others. But a couple of times she had heard the sound of rustling paper as she passed him, and a few times she had seen the corners of a few bits of paper as his mantle fluttered around him. This combined with his theatrical way of telling predictions and his love of attention-as well as his grudge against her for her _lack_ of attention to him-had made her deduce that he was a fake psychic.

She, being a real albeit reluctant psychic, held nothing but contempt for this attention-seeking whelp.

Really, her contempt had nothing to do with the fact that such a pathetic person was pretending to be a seer, a psychic-_something she grudgingly was_. She definitely wasn't irritated just because Kokurano was associated with the same occupation she held, just like how Kokurano's whole careless attitude towards his assumed gift—the complete opposite to her resentful but serious view of it—didn't infuriate her in the least.

Definitely not.

* * *

Shiragiku wondered, not for the first time, whether fate had it out for her.

She had done her best for the past few weeks to avoid talking to Anzu, since the incident with the criminal Jirou. She had done exactly what her infuriated, fearful mother had told her to do when she learnt of the incident through a phone call from the inspector-never speak of the incident again. (Anything related back to her abnormality was never to be mentioned, and her mother had been sure, without Shiragiku's confirmation, that she had been involved in the incident due to her abnormality playing up. In her mother's view, coincidences just didn't happen where Shiragiku was involved.)

Yet during another bout of fruitless questioning by a frustrated, barely restrained Anzu, their shoulders collided as the blue-eyed brunette leaned close to retrieve an object she had dropped on the floor between them. Shiragiku stiffened.

_**Anzu choked and spluttered, a cloth held tightly over her mouth. She jerked and twisted in her captor's grasp, vainly trying to escape. However, it seemed the cloth was dipped in something, for gradually her movements became weak and feeble, her protests softer. Eventually she fell silent and lay limp in her captor's grasp. A podgy hand caressed her cheek.**_

_**Kokurano cackled in unadulterated glee.**_

"Shiragiku? Are you alright?" Shiragiku vaguely registered, and realised she had been ignoring Anzu's chatter for a few moments. She gave an appropriate response somewhere along the lines of 'I'm fine, just realised I had to go', before stalking off.

Crude words couldn't describe how badly she felt then. Her temper, usually kept under tight control, had almost reached snapping point with Kokurano-he was forcing her to deal with a member of the explosive friendship group and himself, who she held nothing but contempt for. Two subjects she'd rather ignore had been shoved right into her face.

To make it worse, he had been planning on harassing and manhandling Anzu-potentially wanting to molest her too. In fact, that caress to the cheek may have been molesting, since Anzu did not give permission in the vision. Anzu, for all her annoying questioning lately, did not deserve to be molested-no one did. Shiragiku was only human, and as uncaring and distant as most of the student body felt she was, she could not just stand back and let a girl be taken advantage of. Detached though she tried to be, callous as she appeared, she simply wasn't cruel enough to let that future situation she saw between Kokurano and Anzu play out. The thought of ignoring her vision completely, almost made her snarl in self-disgust

"_You knew."_

She nearly froze as that quiet voice rose up from her collection of memories. She hated herself, for being reminded of her dear Uncle whenever she thought to ignore a potentially dangerous or harmful vision. She hated that she couldn't hate him, couldn't bear to hate the memory of the only family member who had hinted at accepting her for herself, so many years ago. Hated that he had such a lasting impression as, not only a powerfully sad memory, but a strong lesson to her. Such was his impression on her that her conscience was built around his longest lasting lesson to her, and his image was kept on her at all times, enclosed within a golden locket hidden under her clothes—never seen by anyone or herself, but kept close all the same.

He was…the only person close to her who had not turned his back on her. Because she had turned her back on him first, and he had suffered for it permanently.

This tangent of thought infuriated Shiragiku. Her Uncle was a subject she refused to think of too often. She tried to avoid thinking of him at all—her conscience, built around what he unknowingly taught her after he suffered for her failure to act, was enough memory of him. She didn't need to remember him any more than that.

Agitated, though her face showed no such signs, her mind locked onto one target: Kokurano. He was the potential cause for her vision, he was the reason that she had to interfere with another's business again, and he brought up painful memories for her. Right now, he was the central cause of most of her current problems.

It seemed she had found a vent for her anger. She could deal with the vision then too, killing two birds with one stone.

* * *

She had had it all planned out before-find Kokurano after school, verbally beat him to a pulp, and threaten if necessary to stop him causing trouble. It was only now, as Shiragiku raced desperately through the corridors, that she realised she had no idea where Kokurano headed after school. She barely kept her frustration in check, but those in her way quickly moved aside, bewildered and afraid of the rather ominous air that followed her.

She was normally so calm and detached that she had forgotten that anger usually made a person reckless, whether that helped them or not. In this case, it had just served to rile her up even more in the end. She was not normally so stupid as to overlook small details such as the one listed above. At least it reminded her of why she was always so controlled with her emotions-they stopped her brain working properly.

Shiragiku raced through the school corridors, still streaming with students exiting the school, hoping somewhat foolishly she would stumble across Kokurano. She made minimal contact with others-she didn't want to receive any more visions that would involve her in another's business. Once a day was quite enough-actually, too many, in her opinion.

Sprinting, she passed the history classroom, home economics room, cafeteria, business studies…BANG!

Shiragiku paused mid-run. The sound repeated itself several times…and it was coming from the direction of the library! Startled briefly from her anger, she rushed towards that place and caught sight of a shadow racing away from it, heading in the direction of the science laboratories. The edge of a thick mantle flickered briefly within her sight—and her temper instantly set off again. Was he searching for Anzu, that filthy pervert? She raced after Kokurano without second thought; though later she would berate herself for being so hasty and reckless.

She skidded around a corner and glanced down the corridor. All except one of the science laboratory doors was closed—Shiragiku needed no more indication. She entered that laboratory, and closed the door behind her. The scene that greeted her made her blood boil-she suddenly remembered why the vision before had made her so morally angry.

Kokurano was holding Anzu's limp form, cackling. A rag lay on the floor, slightly damp. A bottle of chloroform sat discreetly on a table, out of place. Even as Shiragiku watched, Kokurano caressed Anzu's face with his filthy hands, perverted glee dancing across his podgy face. In his joy, he had not noticed Shiragiku. Her words brought him back to reality.

"What do you think you are doing?"

Shiragiku spoke calmly, but the atmosphere seemed to thicken at her words. The ominous air that surrounded her crackled. Kokurano paled dramatically.

"W-what are you doing here?" he gasped fearfully. Shiragiku's emotionless eyes suddenly blazed with anger. He wasn't sure whether he felt chilled by the glacial cold overlay, or burnt by the volcanic fury under it. Above all though, fear registered to him—this person who knew his 'visions' needed a push to come true, who had blackmail material on him, had found out what he was about to do!

As if sensing his last thoughts, Shiragiku smirked. 'Caught', she seemed to say with it. Nevertheless, she answered him. "I believe I asked you first. So, what are you doing here, holding Anzu like that when she doesn't even look conscious? Come, tell me-I'll let you try and talk your way out of this, before I tear you to pieces for playing around so carelessly."

"You don't get involved with others. Why now?" Kokurano snapped. He seemed to have regained some of his composure. It shattered again when Shiragiku stepped forward, a deadly gleam in her eyes.

"You truly want to know the reasons?" she said quietly, so quietly it was almost a hiss. "Besides you being a personal insult and annoyance in my life for the past few weeks, you've forced me to become involved in another's business when I don't want to. I can't blame you for my choice in interfering reluctantly, but I can blame you for this whole situation. That's as much as I'm willing to reveal, and a lot more than you deserve to know. Now put Anzu down somewhere gently—I doubt she would appreciate you touching her."

"You-you-" Kokurano seemed torn between throwing a fit, and blubbering in fear from being caught molesting a student. Shiragiku hadn't expected him to actually do anything to save himself-he looked too panicked. That was a mistake.

Kokurano dropped Anzu—none too gently—and lunged for the chloroform bottle sitting a few tables away. He snatched it and threw it at Shiragiku's feet. Shiragiku, thanking any deity above for fast reflexes (from reluctantly helping/saving people), caught the peg. She turned and inwardly snarled, watching Kokurano run towards the open door.

Only to have it slam shut in his face.

Shiragiku blinked—was someone outside? Or was it just a passing breeze that made the door slam shut? Shrugging, she decided to make the most of the situation. Kokurano was locked inside with her, and she had a bottle of chloroform in her hands. A smirk briefly touched her lips, though her eyes remained blank. The expression scared Kokurano more than any words could.

Several thumps, a slight physical struggle and a broken bottle of chloroform later, Shiragiku stood triumphantly over the knocked out form of Kokurano. She made sure to spread his mantle around his unconscious form, leaving the predictions pinned to the inside of the cloth in plain view, to finish the scene. Let the students find him the next day, snoring and his secret revealed. He deserved it.

She felt a little satisfied, having dealt with Kokurano and interfering with her future vision. However, now she had a new problem, and it wasn't exactly psychic-related. Anzu was still unconscious on the floor, and she had no idea what to do with the pretty brunette.

For a few moments her mind argued with her conscience, torn between leaving Anzu in the lab and getting help for the unconscious girl. She had already finished what she had planned to do before (deal with Kokurano and save Anzu from said boy's clutches); there was no need to do anymore. Her conscience did not agree with this though, and insisted she find help for Anzu. (This part of her conscience did not stem from any incidents with anyone treasured. This was just human ethics—something Shiragiku debated over paying attention to a lot.)

Even if she agreed with her conscience though, there wasn't much Shiragiku could do. She couldn't carry the brunette to the infirmary by herself—Anzu was quite a bit taller than her, being one of the taller girls in their grade. She could wait for the brunette to wake, but that could take a long time. She had no idea how long the chloroform Kokurano forced on Anzu (she assumed correctly) would last, and she needed to get home soon or she would receive a scathing scolding from her psychic-paranoid mother. They could get quite fiery, though she had learned to ignore them long ago.

While going through her options, Shiragiku settled Anzu on a chair. It was probably more comfortable than the floor, and it would reduce the chance of aches when the girl woke. She then wandered to the door and pulled it open, curious as to who or what shut Kokurano in with her before.

Blank grey eyes clashed with curious crimson ones as Yugi observed her, casually leaning against a wall. Most significant was the fact that the crimson, _yes crimson, not violet_, eyes represented Yugi's second, harsher personality.

She didn't need this. She'd had quite enough for the day, and her temper was already frayed paper thin by Kokurano's potential molesting. She absolutely refused to deal with the (irritatingly bewildering) mystery she had been ignoring since the Jirou incident.

Slowly and deliberately, Shiragiku inclined her head towards the lab she was peeking out from, glass littering the floor and Anzu unconscious in a chair. She'd left the room in quite a messy state, but she just couldn't be bothered to clean up. She just wanted to go home (avoiding her parents, if she was lucky).

"Your friend may need medical attention. Just leave Kokurano there though—he looks quite comfortable there, don't you think?" she murmured tonelessly, and slowly walked away from the scene.

She resolutely ignored the persistent, curious gaze burning into the back of her head.

* * *

Watching the emotionless looking girl walk out of the lab, Yugi (as he also called himself) smirked. She'd expressed no emotion, yet the way she walked and the air around her suggested she was rather fed up with the world in general and refused to deal with him—of course, that was probably obvious from the way she deliberately ignored his gaze, even though she was aware of it. The stiff, wary set of her shoulders told him that.

Amused, Yugi silently set about clearing up the room, save for Kokurano. He'd take Shiragiku's suggestion—he did seem quite comfortable on the floor. If the whole student body found out the next day that he was a fake seer, it wasn't his fault, honestly this time. Though he was slightly surprised at this—after figuring out Kokurano's dirty intentions towards Anzu, he had been prepared to punish the attention-seeker with a Shadow Game.

Only to find his job had already been done by a girl who usually kept to herself. She'd done it quite thoroughly too, for a person with no powers. She was effectively going to take away what Kokurano valued most—his popularity. He contemplated this while cleaning up after the girl's…punishment? Or was it revenge, for Kokurano's teasing weeks earlier?

Shiragiku…for some reason, whenever she came into his other personality's line of vision, she always drew his attention. The more innocent persona within this body would keep going with whatever task he was doing, but he, the personality who gave punishments to those who he felt wronged him or his friends and acquaintances, would observe her, trying to work out what about her drew his attention. She reminded him of…someone…a mix of his other, more innocent personality, and someone he couldn't remember. It didn't make sense, since he could find no reason for this reminder. She was nothing like his naïve other persona, and how could you be reminded of someone you couldn't remember?

She was an enigma, a puzzle that stirred his curiosity. He was quite fond of solving puzzles though, as much as he liked challenging games. For that though, he needed to learn more about Shiragiku.

He got the feeling that Shiragiku would not like this—from passing observation of her, she seemed an antisocial and private person. No one seemed to know much about her—she was probably the least gossiped about person in the school (his other persona's honest opinion) until recently. He would need to meet her himself, and his demanding curiosity would not accept a refusal of his overtures from Shiragiku however nosy that sounded.

Though a face-to-face conversation might not be the best way to communicate…she seemed so wary of him after the incident with Jirou. He would need to work out another way.

Having vaguely decided what to do about his curiosity over Shiragiku, Yugi put the grey-eyed brunette out of his mind in favour of his current task—carrying Anzu to the infirmary.

On the way out of the room, he accidentally grazed the corner of a table with the back of his right hand. A thin cut appeared and began to bleed. He didn't even feel it.

It was at this point that Anzu stirred slightly from unconsciousness, for a few moments. She caught sight of the bleeding cut on his right hand, and dreamily noticed that whoever carried her—her rescuer, she was sure!—had injured himself. He needed medical attention…

Soon after that thought though, she slipped back into unconsciousness.

Dropping Anzu off at the school infirmary, Yugi deemed the whole mess with Kokurano straightened out and walked towards the lockers—specifically where his other half had passingly observed Shiragiku's to be.

He might as well start his contact with Shiragiku sooner rather than later, though the method left him rather uncomfortable—the idea was almost juvenile…

* * *

**You did an impressive job dealing with the fake psychic, though you'll hear from others that the scene of the crime was a lot cleaner then how you left it. You do not involve yourself with others normally though. Why now?**

Shiragiku stared at the scrap of paper that had been slipped into her locker that morning, the day after Kokurano's punishment. The whole school was buzzing about it, and some suspected Shiragiku was behind the incident, even though Kokurano confessed to dropping a bottle of chloroform himself by accident. (There was no way he would admit to being beaten in a struggle by Shiragiku, even if his popularity was no more.) The room had been surprisingly clean though, when someone discovered his slumbering body.

Yugi had been there yesterday…had he cleaned up her mess? Rats, now it would be especially rude not to answer his one question—and undoubtedly this note was from Yugi—his harsher persona, to be more precise. He had been the only person who saw her at the lab. Shiragiku was not an especially rude person, only to those who annoyed her badly. She felt compelled to answer out of courtesy, but his question was a bit nosy…

A confused, violet-eyed Yugi stared at the note slipped into his locker during lunch time. The violet eyes abruptly changed to crimson, and read the note quickly.

**Kokurano was a personal insult, an annoyance and a disgusting specimen from the male group. He deserves the humiliation he is receiving now. You may interpret this answer any way you like about me, but please keep in mind that I am answering out of courtesy, and because of the help you gave yesterday, cleaning up after a mess that was my responsibility.**

**I do not wish to involve myself with others. Each person's business is their own—that is what I adhere to. In turn I keep my business my own. So please don't take this reply as an acceptance to answer all your questions—yours, Anzu's, or anyone else's.**

Contemplative red eyes scanned the corridor until they found their target. Blank grey eyes stared back without backing down. The blankness receded for a moment, and a warning flashed through them, before being replaced by blankness once more. Her message was quite clear.

'Don't seek me out,' Shiragiku thought moodily towards the owner of such sharp and calculating eyes. 'Mind your own business, and I'll mind mine. Intervening in other's business is not something I like doing, so I'll just reduce the chances of that happening. If I don't know what might happen, I'll feel no guilt later.'

* * *

_There was a late night rush at the Tsukuba family home. Two adults hurried into their limousine after ordering their daughter to stay, still looking impeccable despite the rush and late hour. One young stowaway daughter sat in the back of the limousine._

_When the limousine arrived at the hospital Shiragiku's Uncle had been brought to, Shiragiku's parents rushed off. Shiragiku trailed behind closely, acting as if she was meant to be with her family, but not coming close enough for her parents to spot her. This method of following led her to her Uncle._

_He was a complete mess—alarmingly bloody and bruised, limbs bent oddly, usually stoic face twisted in agony. Yet somehow, he was still conscious. Nurses fluttered about him, vainly attempting to keep him alive. But he knew. He knew he wouldn't survive. Because he had not prevented his fate from the turning point, because he had not listened to his niece's veiled warning, he was reaping the consequences. He turned his head slowly, and glimpsed Shiragiku's parents. His gaze went past them however, aiming for someone behind them._

_Shiragiku stared back with wide eyes. He looked bad enough to be leaving for the afterlife! She ran forward, dodging all of the nurses trying to shoo her away, and avoiding her parents' glares._

"_You knew," Shiragiku's Uncle murmured._

"_I'm sorry, I'm very sorry…" Shiragiku apologised continuously, like a mantra. "I tried to stop you, but I should have tried harder...! Don't go! I'm so sorry!"_

_Her Uncle's glacial gaze was piercing. "What a gift you have," he breathed harshly. "And yet, what a curse."_

_He stopped speaking then. In fact, he stopped breathing. A few seconds later, his heart stopped beating._

_And his cold, blank eyes continued to bore into Shiragiku, imprinting that expression into her memory. Forever distant, forever cool, forever __**gone**__._

_If only she had intervened…_

* * *

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